Catela, DavidSeabra, Ana PaulaMercê, CristianaBranco, Marco A. C.2018-05-212018-05-212018-05-07Catela DPR, de Lemos Teixeira e Seabra AP, Mercê CIA, Branco MAC (2018) Effect of Slow Abdominal Breathing Technique on Heart Rate Variability in Male Smokers. Yoga Phys Ther Rehabil YPTR-156.2577-0756http://hdl.handle.net/10400.15/2216Cigarette smoking is one of the highest contributors to the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The aim of the study was to verify the effect of a breathing technique on cardiac autonomic function in long-term male smoker subjects, by short-term heart rate variability analysis. The effect of a breathing technique on heart rate variability, in five long-term male smokers was analyzed. For almost all participants in this study, paced and predominantly abdominal breathing was beneficial, because it afforded greater asymmetry in short-term heart rate variability, as expressed by Poincaré plots, reinforced by significantly higher shortterm variability, long-term variability, root mean square of successive differences, differences of successive intervals greater than 50ms, and Approximate Entropy. An easily learned breathing technique, which is inexpensive and non-intrusive, can help smokers to momentarily remedy the nefarious cardiac effects of their smoking habit.engHeart Rate VariabilityBreathing TechniqueSmokersjournal article10.29011/2577-0756.000056